Through its walking app, Walk The Distance seeks to inspire a happier, healthier world by

• Motivating people to exercise more every day,

• Providing Opportunities for people to experience new places they may not otherwise get to experience,

• Educating people about famous footpaths, walking/hiking trails, cities and races around the world, and

• Encouraging connection and engagement with others on a similar mission.

Lisa Zaccone and her co-workers raced to walk from Ann Arbor, MI to Chicago- virtually, that is. The group tracked their miles and watched their progress on a printed map. Their reward for completing the trek- a real shopping trip to Chicago.

Doing those calculations every day for everyone in the office was a lot of work, so Lisa asked her son, John, a software engineer, to create an app that tracked the progress of their footrace for them.

John, an avid hiker, thought a virtual hike would be even better than the imagined road walk from Michigan to Illinois. So instead, he coded the Appalachian Trail.

In just four months, more than 2000 virtual walkers downloaded the app, about the total number of thru-hikers (2,272) who successfully completed the actual trail during its first five decades of existence. Today, the app has more than 10,000 active users and has just introduced Private Group Challenges.